NPR 2012-06-13

 The State Department’s worried Russia may be supplying Syria with helicopters the military could be using in its offensive against the Syrian opposition 1. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during remarks at the Brookings Institution in Washington that the US is demanding the Russian stop their arms shipments to Syria.

 
“They have, from time to time, said that we shouldn't worry; everything they’re shipping 2 is unrelated to their actions internally. That’s patently untrue.”
 
This as new reports of shelling emerge from several Syrian cities today. The violence includes an attack on a UN monitoring team, which was attacked by angry mobs as it’d unsuccessfully attempted to get into the rebel-held town of Hafa. Also today the UN is out with the report that accuses the Syrian government of using children as human shields. However, President Bashar al-Assad maintains the uprising is the work of foreign elements trying to destabilize his country.
 
The head of the International Monetary 3 Fund, Christine Lagarde, is pressing European policymakers to take decisive steps to deal with the region’s financial crisis. She was speaking at the Center for Global Development in Washington. NPR’s Craig Windham reports Lagarde says time is running short for solving Europe’s problems.
 
Lagarde says what is needed is a strategy that’s good for stability and growth, a strategy that must start with advanced economies, especially in Europe. In an interview on CNN, Lagarde said the eurozone has just a few months left to deal with its financial crisis.
 
“Various things need to happen shortly, more shortly than three months, I would say.”
 
Lagarde says the eurozone is being improved and strengthened, but the changes are coming too slowly for financial markets. She called for a steady reduction of debt loads in European nations which she says can be accomplished 4 without harsh austerity measures. Craig Windham, NPR News, Washington.
 
The Department of Justice in Florida are headed for a legal showdown. NPR’s Pam Fessler reports it’s over the state’s decision to purge 5 voter registration 6 rolls of noncitizens.
 
Florida says it believes that there are potentially thousands of noncitizens on its rolls, and that some had illegally cast ballots 7. But in a letter to Florida Secretary of State Ken 8 Detzner, a top DOJ official says the way the state’s going about the purge appears to be illegal, and that the department’s preparing to file a suit in federal court. Opponents of Florida’s efforts say that many legal voters have been targeted, and that it’s too close to the August 14th primary to start removing anyone from the rolls. Florida officials say they’re trying to protect the integrity of the election system. Pam Fessler, NPR News, Washington.
 
Catherine Greig, longtime girlfriend of Boston mobster "Whitey" Bulger, is sentenced to eight years in prison. She’s accused of helping 9 Bulger elude 10 capture for 16 years.
 
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A large fire in northern Colorado continues to burn out of control. The nearly 68-square-mile fire has claimed the life of at least one person. It’s destroyed more than 100 structures. As Nathan Heffel from member station KUNC tells us, a third of the nation’s firefighting air support is flying over the Colorado blaze.
 
Hundreds of firefighters from around the country are battling the High Park fire burning west of Fort Collins in Larimer County, 70 miles north of Denver. John Schulz with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office says over 20 tankers 12, helicopters and support planes are working the fire with more on standby. He says the aircraft flying over the blaze create containment 13 lines and don’t actually extinguish the fire.
 
“We’re not gonna get the fire out by the aircraft but only by ground crews, and so we’re really concentrating on making sure that the air resources are used to reinforce and to benefit what the ground crews are doing.”
 
The US Forest Service has been struggling to maintain the size of their national air tanker 11 fleet and has recently called up additional planes for temporary use, including a DC-10, which is on its way to Phoenix 14. For NPR, I’m Nathan Heffel in Greeley, Colorado.
 
The secretary of Commerce is taking a medical leave of absence while he is investigated for the two car crashes over the weekend in the Los Angeles area. John Bryson’s office said he had suffered a seizure 15 connected to the accidents. Bryson was found unconscious in his car at the site of the second crash. He stayed overnight at a hospital before he returned to Washington.
 
We’re seeing gains in US stocks. So far, Dow Jones Industrial Average up 120 points, nearly 1%, at 12,533, NASDAQ gaining 23 at its 2,832, and the S&P 500 also up ten points at 1,319.